


Diplopia

by LunaChi_KuroShihone



Series: out of the corner of your eye [3]
Category: Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: Confident Katsuki Yuuri, Domestic Katsuki Yuuri/Victor Nikiforov, Dorks in Love, Eros Katsuki Yuuri, M/M, Magic, Magical Realism, Post-Canon, Russian Mythology, Spirits, St. Petersburg days, Tentacles, Witches, allusions to, as always, at least a teensy itsy bitsy bit, not that kind of tentacles tho, our girl Mila is here, so much love, squid!demon Yuuri, who aren't nice
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-01
Updated: 2018-11-01
Packaged: 2019-08-05 13:07:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,500
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16368230
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LunaChi_KuroShihone/pseuds/LunaChi_KuroShihone
Summary: Mila watched in amusement as Viktor and Japanese Yuuri twirled around on the ice, the soft melody of the duetto echoing around the almost-empty rink.She'd never seen anyone be more in love than these two; it was almost annoying how utterly perfect their relationship seemed to be, but she couldn't find it in herself to feel envious, unlike many of the other skaters at their rink. She grinned. "I'm off, Vitya, Yuuri! Have fun!"They didn't call back, but the Russian waved to her while they went in for their throw, both smiling brightly.Her grin stayed on Mila's face until she had left the rink and its occupants behind, rounding a corner into an unnamed street as the temperature around her dropped into the negative and her breath became visible in little puffs of condensation. She cursed, hands wrapping around the edges of her jacket. Not now, when she hadn't even made it home from practice!--A Yuri on Ice AU in which everything is 95% the same, only Yuuri is a squid demon by happenstance





	Diplopia

**Author's Note:**

> isn't it funny how I make a nonmagical AU out of a 'verse that's full of magic (cough, Fate, cough), and a supernatural AU out of a 'verse that's completely ordinary? Hah  
> As a late Halloween fic, this time featuring our favorite redhead, Mila!!

 

Mila watched in amusement as Viktor and Japanese Yuuri twirled around on the ice, the soft melody of the _duetto_ echoing around the almost-empty rink.

 

She'd never seen anyone be more in love than these two; it was almost annoying how utterly perfect their relationship seemed to be, but she couldn't find it in herself to feel envious, unlike many of the other skaters at their rink. She grinned. "I'm off, Vitya, Yuuri! Have fun!"

 

They didn't call back, but the Russian waved to her while they went in for their throw, both smiling brightly.

 

Her grin stayed on Mila's face until she had left the rink and its occupants behind, rounding a corner into an unnamed street as the temperature around her dropped into the negative and her breath became visible in little puffs of condensation. She cursed, hands wrapping around the edges of her jacket. Not now, when she hadn't even made it home from practice!

 

The chill surrounded her and seeped into her bones, past her natural defenses and barriers, taking shape inside her pores and settling in. Mila grit her teeth, continuing to hurry through the nondescript street. Shadows and light danced at the corner of her eyes, but the young woman knew better than to give in to temptation and _look_ , for it would spell her downfall. The spirits in Saint Petersburg - the _dukh --_ were particularly meanspirited these last few weeks, which could be attributed to the arrival of their mysterious 'euclid' eldrich abdomination.

 

Mila didn't believe the transmitted intent at all, considering their visitor made her and her sisters' life so much harder, and really, you simply _shouldn't_ trust something that was a Lovecraftian Horror.

 

_you would be quite right, girl._

 

Mila ground her teeth together, keeping her mouth firmly shut. She couldn't risk the nawki that was harassing her to spread further. It tried to claw its way up her throat and past her teeth, the chill coloring her lips blue.

 

_silly witch,_ it whispered with sharp breath. _resist all you want, but it won't save you. soon…_

 

The cold receded with those words, reality overlapping the shapes and blurring back over the layer of mist and reflection that was associated everywhere with the nonhuman and the dangerous. Mila heaved a breath, a feeling overtaking her not unlike as if she'd run a marathon, and walked back home and to Calcifer to think.

 

They'd have to find the eldrich being soon, because it attracted the attention of not only the mindless beasts but of those with their own morale and twisted reasoning, all searching for the _thing_ that had settled in Saint Petersburg.

 

And when they found it, Mila hoped that she and her sisters would be strong enough to either stop it or reason with it -- she wasn't naive enough to think that they could take it down.

 

•• ━━━━━ ••●•• ━━━━━ ••

 

The bleakness of the day, roughly a week after she'd last had to ward off the word-stealer, made Mila's hairs stand on edge from the second she stepped into the rink and to Yura's and Vitya's hopeless antics. Japanese Yuuri was standing at the edge of the rink, talking softly to Georgi; it was impressive how he'd managed to weave his way into their previously-fragile circle of Yakov's skaters, and strung them together.

 

A shadow flickered and wrapped around the corners of the rink, and her brows furrowed.

_This isn't good._

 

Still, the day passed over calmly, the only incident a shouting match between Yakov and Yura. Europeans and Four Continents were over and Worlds was approaching them slowly, and the rink was filled with other coaches and skaters and novices or families all milling about. Mila watched the pairs skaters start practicing and leave the ice for the other single skaters, sagging into her plastic chair next to Japanese Yuuri when the sky had dimmed and the sun was beginning to set.

 

"We're done for today," she wheezed, grinning. "the only ones on the open ice are Yurochka and Coach Daniil's students, so we can go."

 

He smiled that soft, protect-me-I'm-a-precious-cinnamon-roll smile, and her own softened in return. "Yeah, me and Vitya are going home too. Yurio still has to work on his combination."

 

"Yep. And Gosha's gone already, lucky him." They shared another grin before going their separate ways. Mila didn't think it possible, but behind the meek exterior was a genuine savage personality hiding, and Japanese Yuuri would often be the one to assist her in her prank wars against the hockey players that shared their ice thrice a week. She'd also heard (from Sara, who heard it from Emil, who heard it from Phichit, Yuuri's de-facto social media manager before Viktor took over) that that was the norm back in Detroit, where the hockey squad was at the mercy of the ice skater.

The hockey lackeys didn't know what would hit them tomorrow.

 

Entering the freezing changing room with her grin still present, she nodded at the pairs skaters before making her way over to her own corner, intent on changing fast and getting home before babushka Pyat' started ...cooking.

 

(It was really more of a 'throwing everything together and stirring it' than actual cooking, so her worries were valid. Very valid.)

 

On second thought… maybe Mila should ask Viktor if she could come over for dinner; she'd overheard that Japanese Yuuri was cooking today.

 

_"You know,"_ Ekaterina Ivanova said in passing, walking by Mila on her way to the door. The skater paid her no mind, putting her skates into her bag. _"Maybe I should simply go after Russia's Pride."_

 

"Ha," Mila threw on her jacket, absentmindedly answering as she cupped her hands together against the chill. "I don't know if you've noticed, but Vitya's the _epitome of gay_. And he and Japanese Yuuri are --"

 

Mila froze. Ekaterina was gone already, and she'd taken the cold with her.

_I'm an idiot!_ With a hurried glance to the other women in the locker, she threw her bag over her shoulder and rushed after the lingering coldness. _Ekaterina and Ivan are already married!_

 

 

If the word-stealer managed to hurt Yuuri and Viktor because she was distracted by the shadows that had flickered around the rink, she'd never forgive herself. Passing the confused and worried Vasilev -- he had front desk duty until his injured leg healed -- she stepped out of the double doors and into Russia's evening sky. It was --

 

_cold._

_unbelievingly, excruciatingly and bitingly cold. muscles locking up, ice burning her lungs and legs and fing e r s_

_freezing her on the s pot -- chaining and slowing and holding and_

 

**_"убирайся."_ **

 

The sensation receded, her lungs filling with fresh air. The word-stealer had grown powerful, ever since she'd last encountered it.

 

Viktor and Yuuri were in serious danger. "...but where…?" Mila grimaced; inside the building it was easy to zero in on the feeling, but outside, where glimpses lingered in the shadows and the corners? It suddenly became much more difficult.

 

"All right… gotta center myself." She winced. "and stop talking to myself… _geeze_ , I sound crazy. Maybe I am? What was I doing -- oh yeah, center yourself, Babicheva! This is nothing compared to Vitya's Quad Flip. Vitya. _Quad_. _Quad Flip, Quad Flip, Quad..._ there!"

 

Whirling around, the skater took off, following the faint pulse of _Viktor_ that was growing stronger and stronger the closer she got to the alleyway underneath the bridge. Shadows sprung up around her, at the corner of her vision and more importantly, from the Neva by the _bridge-!_

 

It seemed that their mysterious Lovecraft Horror noticed the dukh stealing about, and decided to reveal itself. Vaulting over the railing in blind panic, adrenaline enhancing her willingness to take such a risk, Mila readied a defense, ready to protect Viktor and Yuuri.

 

_"Look who also came to watch. Hello, M i l a."_ Ekaterina -- or the word-stealer currently masquerading as her -- was standing in front of Japanese Yuuri, utterly relaxed and non-threatening, head tilted backwards with a grin _. "I was just going to show them something I found in the waters, here."_ She waved her hand towards the surface, eyeing Mila while she carefully made her way over to the Japanese skater, knowing when to concede defeat in a situation. If she were to do something from her former position, there was a good chance that the other two would get caught between it. Well, being strategically backed into a wall wasn't ideal either, but at least she was next to them. Yuuri seemed tense, shoulders taut and expression wary, while Viktor -- cheesy, stupid, foolish but good-hearted Viktor -- looked on next to them, confusion drawing his brows together. He muttered something under his breath and Yuuri nodded impercetibly, the shadows around them writhing as the last rays of the sun dipped below the city line.

 

If Ekaterina hadn't noticed before, she did now: her attention turned to the water, as did Mila's, shivers running down her spine, and the woman grinned a grin way too wide for a human. _"Well, well, well. It seems that I've attracted the attention of our resident extradimensional being."_ Her eyes flashed red. _"Is it scared of my presence as it should be? I have regained a body on the mortal plane, and not even the sisterhood has managed to stop me."_ Ekaterina turned back to them, eyeing Mila lazily.

 

The darkness flickered around them, slightly, aggressively. The air shimmered and whatever _it_ was, it would show itself soon. With a glance at her companions, Mila took half a step forward, breath and voice strained. "You're an idiot if you think that the… _thing_ is afraid of you, word-stealer."

 

Viktor flinched, head snapping to Yuuri -- _why to Yuuri?_ Mila wondered, but she didn't need to wait too long for an answer. The shadows calmed as Yuuri took a step forward, then another, until he brushed past a stunned Mila and a grinning Ekaterina. He sighed, tension leaving him, hand pushing up his glasses and pinching the bridge of his nose.

 

"What exactly makes you think that 'it' would be afraid of you?" His voice was soft, silk against skin, but his eyes were colder than the ice they all called home, and Mila blanched. She stared at Yuuri first, before turning to Viktor. _"Vitya-!_ Is Yuuri crazy?"

The Russian shrugged, eyes never leaving his fiancé and the word-stealer. "No, but what you said was insensitive, Mila."

 

She was about to retort that what Yuuri did was life-threatening as Ekaterina froze; stiffening up and eyes widening. _"No."_

 

Yuuri shrugged, and like gossamer silk unfolding, ten tentacles uncoiled from around his back, pulsing angry red in electric stripes. His voice turned smooth as honey as he canted his head to the side, in the same move as the beginning of his Eros routine and Mila shuddered, enraptured: "I really am not afraid of you, Miss." The tentacles curled. "You are rather pathetic."

 

•• ━━━━━ ••●•• ━━━━━ ••

 

Mila was frozen stiff once more, hastily and uncoordinatedly flinching back as the limbs moved, winding around and becoming one with the shadows under the bridge. She took another step back as Yuuri took one forward, Ekaterina's expression morphing into uncertainty across from them, her eyes trailing after the two wider tentacles that were lazily moving to the front and resting at Yuuri's ankles. A distressed noise escaped the young witches' throat as her back hit something and her retreat was halted momentarily, shadows flickering and bathing them in red.

 

Yuuri made another step, Mila's hairs standing up, and this time the word-stealer flinched, noticing its folly -- that was when the shadows that clung to the bridge and the skater surged forward, enveloping both of them as the air flickered wildly, and the only color Mila saw was _red--_

 

_r e d like his eyes, r e d like the tentacles, r e d like the blood that waslow ly dri pp i n g d own Ekat erina'sle g, r e d like --_

 

arms wound around her midsection and Mila blinked, breaking the sight. Heaving a ragged breath, she let herself slump against the object she leaned against, finding Viktor behind her, caging her in with no movement. Her gaze was unfocused and glassy for what felt like only a second as she tried to digest what she'd seen; or rather --

 

Neither Yuuri nor the word-stealer were clearly visible anymore, having disappeared into the corner of her sight when she blinked, her body twisted around and head forcefully boxed into the older Russian's chest and against his beige jacket.

 

She heaved another breath. "Wh-- wh-- h-h o w--"

 

"Breathe, Mila." Viktor's voice was soothing, almost like a balm, and she focused on it and his _presence_ , gaining back some semblance of calm and levelheadedness. She swallowed, her mouth dry. "Y-Yuuri," Mila leaned forward, letting her weight sag against her rinkmate as her hands clawed at his back. "Japanese Y-Yuuri is… the _thing_?"

 

She could feel Viktor's frown before she saw it, head leaning back and tactfully obscuring her view, his eyes wandering around and assessing their surroundings. "You really should stop calling him that, Mila. It's Yuuri."

 

He glanced down at her, his iron grip slacking and Mila could breathe again, extricating herself from him and once again glancing to the spot where Yuuri was kneeling, his previous aggression having vanished as if it didn't happen, if not for an unconscious Ekaterina whom he was checking over.

 

And the tentacles that were flitting and curling around him, playing with the remaining shadows and flickering dull blue and red.

 

Viktor tried again, turning her head with his palm and cupping her cheeks. "Yuuri isn't dangerous, and I know- I _need_ you to believe me that he would never hurt you. Or anyone, without -- getting provoked like this. Mila, _please._ "

 

His voice sounded frantic, almost broken, and Mila took another deep breath and closed her eyes, reassessing, refocusing:

 

Yuuri Katsuki was, without an ounce of doubt, their local visitor of extradimensional kind.

Yuuri Katsuki also was, without an ounce of doubt, incredibly good at hiding his presence, because even now, he barely registered to her anymore -- despite the earlier spike when he passed her.

Also, the word-stealer was still present, if unconscious, overwhelmed in a matter of seconds.

 

But.

 

Viktor hadn't seemed surprised, or frozen rigid by fear, or even that worried until Mila had panicked, so.

 

So?

 

Opening her eyes at the sound of approaching footsteps, Mila saw Yuuri shake his head slightly as he tapped his fiancé on the arm.

 

"It's okay, Vitya. This isn't the first time. Give Mila some space."

 

Viktor was reluctant, but he let his hands fall from her cheeks and took a step back, almost immediately turning to Yuuri and fussing over him, only calming down when one of the tentacles (how did they connect to his back?) curled around his hands. Mila glanced over one last time to Ekaterina, before sighing, her own tension seeping out somewhat.

 

"So. There's this, then."

 

Yuuri flinched. "...sorry."


End file.
